Road surfacing equipment



y 15, 1962 M. A. ROSS ET AL 3,034,410

ROAD SURFACING EQUIPMENT Filed July 15, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. MAX A. ROSS BY WALTER O. MANSFIELD ATTORNEY May 15, 1962 A.-ROSS T AL 3,034,410

ROAD SURFACING EQUIPMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 15, 1957 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,034,410 ROAD SURFACING EQUIPMENT Max A. Ross, 195 Erie Road, Columbus, Ohio, and Walter O. Mansfield, 1506 Colgate Road, Marietta,

Filed July 15, 1957, Ser. No. 671,904 2 Claims. or. 94-46) Ihis invention relates to machines for feeding bituminous and granular paving material on roadways and an object is to produce a simple and etficient machine of this character which can be pushed ahead of a mold board carrying vehicle so as the vehicle advances, correct amount of material is at all times delivered to the roadway to be spread by the mold board.

Another object is to produce a machine of this character having the new and improved features of construction, arrangement and operation hereinafter described. For purposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the material spreader connected to the front end of a power grader, a fragment of a dump truck being disposed in advance of the feeding machine and being propelled thereby;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the paving material feeding machine;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of FiGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line 44 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the drive for the screw conveyors.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a paving material feeding machine P which is pushed along the roadway by a power grader G of a well known type. In advance of the feeding machine P is a dump truck T which, as shown in FIGURE 1, dumps the paving material directly into the hopper of the feeding machine P, the dump truck being pushed forwardly by the feeding machine and through the agency of rollers carried by the feeding machine engaging the rear road wheels of the dump truck.

The paving material feeding machine P comprises a hopper 11 which is generally disposed transversely with respect to the roadway and is formed internally with a central humped portion 12 dividing the interior of the hopper into two fore and aft material receiving cavities. The hopper is supported by a pair of laterally spaced fore and aft extending supporting I beams 13 to the underside of which are suitably rigidly secured skids 14 which travel over the roadway. Rigid with the forward ends of the beams 13 and inclining upwardly and forwardly are beam extensions 15, the forward ends of the skids curving upwardly over the beam extensions as shown. Rigid with the upper ends of the beam extensions 15 is a transversely extending channel beam 16. The channel beam 16 spans the space between the beam extensions 15 and projects slightly beyond each of these extensions. Secured in the channel beam 16 adjacent the opposite ends are roller brackets 17 carrying the rollers 10 which are of elongate form and are so positioned that they can engage the rear road wheels of the dump truck T as indicated on FIGURE 1.

At the rear of the supporting beams 13 and rigid therewith are upwardly and rearwardly extending beam extensions 18 which, as shown in FIGURE 2, converge toward each other as they extend rigidly and terminate in a plane near the top of the hopper 11. Spanning the space between the upper ends of the beam extensions 12 is a cross bar 19 and disposed above and below the beam extensions 18 and rigid therewith are reinforcing web plates 20. Rigidly secured to the plate 19 in laterally spaced relation are pivot brackets 21 which enable the rear end of the paving material feeding machine P to be pivotally connected to the forward end of the power grader G as shown on FIGURE 1. In this manner the power grader can push the paving material feeding machine P forwardly over the roadway and the feeding machine in turn can push the dump truck which is constantly dumping paving material into the hopper 11 as it advances, thereby to insure at all times adequate quantity of paving material in the hopper.

Disposed within the hopper are screw conveyors 22, one being disposed in each of the cavities and arranged in a fore and aft relation. .The conveyors are suitably mounted in bearings, bearing brackets 22a being shown for supporting the rear ends of the screw conveyors on the outside of the hopper. The rear ends and portions of the screw conveyors are disposed in outlet tubes 26 through which the paving material is forced by the screws and delivered therefrom directly upon the roadway. After being delivered to the roadway, the usual mold board M of the power grader G which is disposed in rear of the feeding machine properly spreads the paving material over the road surface.

The screw conveyors are driven by sprocket and chain connections, these being diagrammatically indicated on FIGURE 5, a sprocket and chain assembly running from each of the screw conveyors to a central sprocket 25 which in turn is connected by a chain 25 to a sprocket carried by a motor 27. In this instance the motor 27 is a hydraulic motor which receives its power from a tube 28 extending to the power grader P. It will be understood that most power graders are equipped with hydraulic power for raising and lowering the mold board M and for other purposes. Use is made of this hydraulic power in this instance so that the screw conveyors of the paving material feeding machine P can be driven by such power and controlled by the operator of the power grader, thereby to insure that the correct amount of material is at all times being delivered to the road surface.

29 designates a chain lift carried by the power grader and utilizing the hydraulic power to elevate the material feeding machine above the roadway when desired.

It is recognized that power graders with their long wheel base, rigid frame and precise mold board control are an ideal tool for use in laying out and striking off bituminous paving material in a leveling course to eliminate pavement surface irregularities, wedge courses to eliminate excessive pavement crown, etcv Since these operations require constantly varying quantities of paving material, and since the mold board of the power grader is capable of carrying very limited quantities of this material, an important problem in this operation has been one of supplying the power grader mold board with the correct amount of material at all times. Not infrequently has it been necessary to stop the operation, manually remove surplus material from in front of the mold board or manually place additional material there in case of a deficiency. These difliculties are overcome by the material feeding machine above described.

Manifestly in operation the hopper of the paving material feeding machine is filled from the body of the dump truck. It will be noted that in the dumping position, the dump body and the hopper of the feeding machines are in close proximity with each other. Actually the hopper becomes an extension of the dump body, thereby insuring that the hopper will automatically remain filled without overloading until the truck is unloaded. This position relationship is maintained during the dumping operation by the fact that the dump truck is propelled through the drive rollers of the material feeding machine P. The

material feeding machine discharges the paving material onto the roadway ahead of the mold board M at a manually controlled variable rate or at a constant rate to meet the requirements of the operation.

Numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement and operation may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In combination with a self-propelled road grader having a mold board for spreading paving material over the roadway, a paving material feeding machine having a hopper provided with an open top, closed bottom wall, front and side walls, a pair of laterally spaced longitudinal supporting beams for said hopper, skids on said beams, upwardly and rearwardly inclined extensions on the rear ends of said beams converging at their upper ends, means providing a pivoted connection between said upper ends of the beams and the front of the grader, upwardly and forwardly inclined extensions on the front ends of said beams, a transverse beam connecting the upper ends of said last extensions, a pair of rollers on said transverse beam for engaging the rear road wheels of a dump truck disposed directly in front thereof, said hopper having an apertured rear wall providing paving material discharge means, conveyor means in said hopper for forcefully discharging paving material through said discharge means directly upon the roadway in advance of the mold board, said conveyor means including at least a pair of screw-type material handling elements mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis which extends in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of motion of the feeding machine, motor means for selectively driving said conveyor means for increasing or decreasing the amount of paving material discharged, and means carried by the grader for raising the feeding machine about its pivotal connection above the ground for transporting purposes.

2. In combination with a self-propelled road grader having a mold board for spreading paving material over the roadway, a paving material feeding machine having a hopper provided with an open top, closed bottom wall, front and side walls, and an apertured rear Wall providing paving material discharge means, conveyor means in said hopper for forcefully discharging paving material through said discharge means directly upon the roadway in advance of the mold board, said conveyor means including a screw-type material handling element mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis which extends in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of motion of the feeding machine, motor means operating said conveyor means at a selective speed for increasing or decreasing the amount of paving material discharge, a pair of laterally spaced longitudinal supporting beams engaging the bottom wall of said hopper and arranged respectively on opposite sides of said paving material discharge means, upwardly and rearwardly disposed e"- tensions on the rear ends of said beams, means providing a pivotal connection between said beam extensions and the front of the grader, upwardly and forwardly disposed extensions on the front ends of said beams, 21 pair of rollers for engaging the rear road wheels of a dump truck disposed directly in front thereof, and means for connecting said rollers to said last upwardly and forwardly disposed extensions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,233,107 Myers July 10, 1917 1,415,880 Leinberger et al May 16, 1922 1,457,928 Johnson June 5, 1923 2,159,509 Mosel May 23, 1939 2,215,455 Abernathy et a1, Sept. 24, 1940 2,303,486 McConnaughay Dec. 1, 1942 2,403,820 Miller July 9, 1946 2,757,587 Mentes Aug. 7, 1956 2,818,790 Canfield Jan. 7, 1958 

